Cracking tales of historical mathematics and its interplay with science, philosophy, and culture. Revisionist history is galore. Contrarian takes on received wisdom. Implications for teaching. Informed by current scholarship. By Dr. Viktor Blåsjö.
History of mathematics research with iconoclastic madcap twists
Copernicus’s planetary models contain elements also found in the works of late medieval Islamic astronomers associated with the Maragha School, including the Tusi couple and Ibn al-Shatir’s models for the Moon and Mercury. On this basis many historians have concluded that Copernicus must have gotten his hands on these Maragha ideas somehow or other, even though no direct evidence for such transmission has been found. Let us consider the evidence as to whether Copernicus plagiarized these Arabic sources or not.
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